Saturday letters

Saturday

Mar 1, 2014 at 12:01 AM

Michigan and guns

In response to the self-proclaimed "snowbird" from Michigan who finds it in good taste to visit our home while criticizing Florida's "stand your ground" law as "cavalier about carnage," I have a few comments.

While not being a Florida native myself, I had to get used to a way of life that was certainly different from where I came from in New York state. However, when I walked into another man's home I tried to be polite and accept the way he chose to lead his life. I had to acclimate, and unlike our guest, didn't find it tasteful to criticize and question the way the people of Florida chose to live their lives. This law is currently the legislated will of the people and until we (the residents) decide it needs to change this is "how we roll."

I would also like to point out that Michigan has more firearm murders per capita than Florida does. Maybe the letter writer should begin his gun reform campaign in his home state before complaining that our gun laws are so "cavalier."

Mike Tully

Nokomis

Language of hate

Members associated with the Tea Party at a protest organized by the Republicans hurled vile remarks at Democratic gubernatorial Charlie Crist at a book signing in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 20. One member of the protest shouted at Crist, "commie whore," and others yelled similar bigoted slurs, observed Jessica Clark, Deputy Campaign Manager of the Charlie Crist for Governor campaign in an email the following day.

Recently National Rifle Association board member and Republican darling Ted Nugent, who stumped for Mitt Romney during his presidential campaign, publicly declared: "I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame, enough Americans to be ever vigilant not to let a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel like the Acorn community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States."

While it is hard to decide which of the above catch words is the most despicable, Charles N. Blow in a New York Times op-ed piece titled "Accommodating divisiveness" noted that the term "subhuman mongrel" has received the most attention. In reference to Jews it was daily propaganda by the Nazis.

Nazis and other racists are attracted to the Tea Party/Republican Party, observed Claire Conner in her must-read book "Wrapped in the Flag, A Personal History of America's Radical Right." Unless vigorously opposed, this fatal attraction is lethal to American democracy.

Robert Phillipoff

Bradenton

Obama pipeline politics

It was reported that President Obama would be making a decision regarding the pipeline in a couple of months.

Approval of the pipeline, which would create many thousands of jobs and help reduce our dependency on foreign oil, could have happened a long time ago.

The following is how Obama thinks: There is an election in November and the polls are not favorable for the Democrats who were on board for Obamacare.

I am predicting that President Obama will further delay the approval of the pipeline until September or early October so that he can claim he is creating jobs just in time for the election, to take the heat off of negative impact of supporters of Obamacare.

Krugman, in two of his recent columns -- "Inequality, dignity and freedom" and "The stimulus' tragic flaw" -- clearly presents his positions on these important issues. Here are some relevant statements from Krugman:

• "... Fiscal scolds have turned entitlements into a bad word, but it's precisely the fact that Americans are entitled to collect Social Security and be covered by Medicare, no questions asked, that makes these programs so empowering and liberating."

• "... Hard work isn't enough to provide financial security or a decent education for their children, and many either couldn't get health insurance or they were desperately afraid of losing jobs that came with insurance until the Affordable Care Act kicked in..."

One may disagree with him, but his arguments are well-founded and clearly stated, unlike the reader's confused muddle of criticism. I wonder if the reader took the time to read Krugman's columns in their entirety.

John Novotny

Englewood

Schools more efficient

Sometimes it is bewildering to read letters from small-minded people who complain because school campuses appear attractive. Should we return to the era of more of the unsightly temporary, energy-hogging hovels that greeted me when I moved to Sarasota in 1986?

In my opinion, a complaint about public buildings should be made after one knows the factors that went into designing and funding the structures. Are they aware that -- among other things -- new buildings are designed to consume power at the hours of lowest rates, chill the air-conditioning water, and then deliver already cool air during the higher rate hours? Also, many community organizations use these school facilities for the enjoyment and benefit of the general public.

I wouldn't want my kids to try to compete in today's business environment by obtaining their learning in a one-room log cabin schoolhouse with a chalkboard. I regret that there are still people who do.

Ron Cota

Sarasota

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